The Shocking Thing Jennifer Garner Ate On Set of '13 Going on 30'

There’s nothing better than rewatching your favorite old rom-com, especially when you get to experience it with new insider tidbits that spice up the nostalgia. One such fun fact involves Jennifer Garner and a scene she just admitted to struggling through on the set of the beloved comedy "13 Going on 30". 

Garner’s hilarious behind-the-scenes secret makes us love the classic movie (and her) even more. In fact, you may never watch that legendary party scene the same way again. 

What Jennifer Garner Ate Filming ‘13 Going on 30’

Believe it or not, acting isn’t the only challenging part of filming movies—sometimes it’s also the eating. 

Garner shared one of the most difficult on-set eating experiences with her “own personal cooking fairy,” Ina Garten as they filmed an episode for Food Network’s "Be My Guest with Ina Garten". The two kitchen icons talked pizza crackers, skillet cornbread, and, the best part, rom-coms. Oh, how we adore their friendship. 

People shared an exclusive clip of the cooking partners' conversation from the episode.  

“Is there any time on film that you had to eat something over and over again, when you have to do take after take?,” Garten asked the actress. On the set of her 2004 blockbuster, it turns out there were several. “That happened so much in the film '13 Going on 30',” Garner shared.

“There's this one shot where I'm entering a party and it's really long,” she continued. “It's done in one take. There are no cuts in it, so we had to film it the whole way without having any mistakes.” 

This party she speaks of just so happens to be one of the most iconic party scenes in cinematic history, when freshly-30 Jenna Rink turns a dull company mixer into a full-scale "Thriller" flash mob with Matty (aka Mark Ruffalo) by her side. 

But, there’s a less memorable detail from the scene you might have overlooked—when she grabs a cocktail shrimp from a passing server with a quick "thanks," eats it, and nonchalantly tosses the tail over her shoulder, accidentally hitting an unsuspecting party guest.

“In every single take, I took a shrimp and ate the whole thing,” she laughed. “Yeah—we did 22 takes.”

The Barefoot Contessa responded with what we were all thinking, “Oh no!”

22 shrimp?! Listen, we’ve heard some hilarious on-set eating stories, like Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham finding her “Biscuits with the Boss” inedible, or Emma Stone eating two plain McDonald’s burgers every other day on the set of Poor "Things". And, who can forget how many Eggo waffles Millie Bobby Brown scarfed down as she played Eleven in "Stranger Things"? 

But now, Jennifer Garner eating 22 shrimp as the “thirty, flirty, and thriving” Jenna Rink might just top the list. That’s some showbiz nobody wants to get into. 

“I'll never forget, I was like, ‘uh, I'm gonna sit down for a minute,’” she reenacted, laughing. 

So, the next time you notice an actor taking even a small bite on screen, just know that they—and their stomachs—worked very hard to bring that cinematic moment to life.